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Monday, March 28, 2016

Hi there. For this month's Pattern Play over at Gossamer Blue, I chose to walk you through the creative process of how I use busy patterned papers when I scrapbook.

Supplies: March 2016 Main kit, Main Add-on #2, Bits & Pieces

How to:
I especially love the 12×12 Delighted and Fresh papers from the Maggie Holmes Bloom collection. I couldn’t decide which one to use so I decided to cut a few of my favorite chevrons and line them coming down from the top and up from the bottom so they’d meet about 3/4 of the way up.

I then layered several coordinating papers behind my photo and placed it where the chevrons met. For some, this would leave a lot of lovely white space and while I love the look when others do it, I never can seem to make it look as good. So what did I do? I pulled the other patterned paper, Fresh, back out of my stash.

It’s a busy paper with lots of journaling cards so I cut straight down each of the divided lines and literally placed each new 3×12 sheet to the right side of the paper until I found the perfect one. Realizing the page might be a little off balance, I cut a larger and smaller 12″ strip and adhered it to each side of the page. Then I adhered the entire 3×12 journal cards sheet to the page. Now this page was speaking to me AND I got to use bits from both of my favorite busy patterns.

The next step in my process was to fill in around those layers below my photo. I tucked a large XOXO gold glitter die, a ticket stub, flowers, leaves, you name it. I just tucked and tucked,using regular adhesive and foam adhesive for added dimension.

While the sentiments on the journaling cards would work well for the title, I really wanted the title to reflect my girl’s fashion sense, hence the “ooh la la”. Last but not least was my journaling and a few more embellishments in the top and bottom corners of the page.

My tip for working with busy patterns is to use them in moderation. I love the challenge of finding a way to use multiple patterns in an understated way. Thanks for stopping by today. Now go on and get scrappy!

Friday, March 25, 2016

Happy Good Friday everyone. I hope you all are ready for a fun-filled Easter Weekend. In honor of this wonderful holiday, I created an Easter layout about my daughter’s trip to visit the Easter bunny last year. I thought it only fitting to include an actual bunny on the layout but not just any bunny would do…it had to be a patchwork bunny ‘cause how cute are patchwork stuffed animals?!?!

As a Contributing Designer for Shimelle.com, I have a few photo tutorials I want to walk through with you today. First is the patchwork, then the process for how I created the eggs and lastly is the shaker confetti egg. Let’s take a look…

To create the patchwork bunny, I cut the bunny from the white cardstock. I actually thought I would just back the negative space with a fun pattern paper but as I was looking at the bunny that was about to be thrown away or go to my scrap pile I realized I had to use it as part of the design. I had cut it out just to add it right back and that’s when the idea to add a bunch or rectangle and squares hit me.

First I cut a bunch of different sized squares from various pattern papers and arranged them by color around the bunny. I literally went color by color and adhered them to the top of the bunny, overlapping them with no rhyme or reason. The only thing I was concerned about was that I didn’t put the same pattern next to itself.

You can kind of still see the shape of the bunny after all the patterns have been added. Tip #1: don’t trim the edges around the bunny. Leaving it untrimmed will help ensure you won’t have any open gaps when you add the cardstock overlay.

I also cut a big title at the top of the page so before adding the overlay to the top of the patchwork bunny, I added patterns to the back of the letters. I opted not to use the patchwork pattern for this and simply used 1 pattern per letter so as not to get too crazy. Once the title was complete, I added the overlay on top of the bunny. Tip #2: make sure to use good adhesive to get all those little edges to stick down. You can see them popping up here before I adhered them together. To finish off the bunny and title, I handstitched around them.

I figured that an Easter layout cannot be complete without a few Easter eggs. I will walk you through the process for how I customized them. The first egg has a cute little banner and word in the middle. I could have traced this in Silhouette Designer but I hand cut it by simply tracing it on the pattern and then cutting it out. I then cut little bits for the loops and then backed it with a coordinating pattern paper.

The next egg had a ton of loops. Again, I could have traced and cut them on my CAMEO but that’s too easy. I simply eyeballed the design and hand cut them. If they were too big, I just trimmed them down and then adhered them to the loops. Then I backed it with a bright yellow pattern.

The last one I’m showing today is a shaker box egg. I traced the outside of one of the other eggs for the back of the egg and then did an offset trace on the inside to create the top of the egg. I then used some leftover packaging material to create the clear front of the egg, adhering it with skinny double sided adhesive. I cut a few circles from the pattern papers and placed them on top of the solid egg background. Lastly, I cut some foam adhesive in half and applied it to the back of the top layered egg. Does that even make sense? I placed it on top of the solid egg with the confetti and voila!, a shaker egg. I used some of the leftover confetti for the 4th egg.

All that was left was to finish off the title, add the all-important photo and embellishments and last but not least the journaling, which you don’t see here. I plan to add that under the bottom left bunny ear or maybe between the bunny and the photo. Decisions, decisions. Where do you think I should journal???

Thanks for stopping by today. If you have a second, head over to Shimelle's website and leave us both some love.

Thursday, March 24, 2016

I'll be doing a Spring Break / snow skiing trip post soon but for the time being, this layout is a bit of a spoiler but Y'ALL we did something we didn't think we'd get to do as a family for a long time and not only did we do it but we excelled at it. Stay tuned for more on that but until then here's a spoiler alert...

My girl did BLACK DIAMOND ski runs. She had an Adaptive Sports Coach, Ty Bonnell, who was Ah-mazing and now considered a part of our family. I'll get to the details on that separately. But on day 6, he led her down a Black with all of us there watching and skiing with her. We snapped this photo of them pointing to "Caliente" right before we went down.

How to: Cut diamonds from a piece of cardstock. I used the Diamonds Forever cut file from the Just Nick store. Save one of the diamonds you cut out to use as a template for cutting the pattern papers. Adhere some papers directly to the back and adhere others using foam squares. I used a lined pattern in one of the squares for journaling. Once complete, hand stitch around a select few of the diamonds. Then add layers under and over your photo. I chose a frame and a speech bubble to highlight specific things in my photo. Lastly, add a fun title and scatter embellishments. I chose clear crystals and gold enamel dots to look like falling snow.

How adorable is this little squirrel? My daughter saw her when I was looking through all the new collections and fell in love with her so I decided she'd be perfect for her Easter card.

To create this, I used the Invisibles Fresh Air to create a sky background. I added a green grass border from the sticker sheet and then created a little scene with the tree (where the squirrel lives), the Easter basket sentiment and then the cute little squirrel. I can't wait to give this to her!

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

I wanted to document how precious the little moments are with children. Here, my daughter is enjoying playing with a pine needle. My daughter is 7 now but I stumbled across this photo as I was looking for something to create with the new Bella Blvd. Baby Girl collection and found this gem.

I had completely forgotten how something so simple was so interesting to my daughter. I knew when I spotted it that I needed to document it. Since this photo was outdoors and she was wearing a cute little polka dot floral outfit, I decided to cut flowers using my Silhouette.

I backed each of the flowers with a coordinating paper, which at initial thought sounded like a bad idea but I used a function in the Silhouette software to make it easy peasy. I included a tutorial about how I did this below.

Once I had my flowers, I arranged them in two opposite corners, leaving plenty of space for my photo and title. The journaling will go right under the photo. The other corners were feeling a bit bare so I added a few borders and stickers to balance it out.

Thursday, March 10, 2016

I was asked to create a project using the Bella Bows. I decided to embrace the bows by creating cut files similar to the Bella Bows. You can DOWNLOAD the CUT FILE HERE for free. I repeated the bow pattern, mixing Bella Bows with bows cut from the cardstock background and backed with various pattern papers. Repeating a pattern multiple times adds a sense of whole while allowing you to create a relatively fast project that is visually appealing.

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

This sweetheart turned 12 back in October. She is amazing in so many ways and life with her is definitely an adventure. I don't talk about why here on my blog because of her privacy but I hear you aren't given anything you can't handle and I am so happy and proud to be her mother.

So onto the fun things...she celebrated with a night out and then a sleepover with 4 - 5 friends. It was so great to see them having so much fun. I captured this shot of her blowing out her sparklers candles. Seriously, they were real sparklers and they all loved it.

I created this layout as a collaboration with PageMaps and JustNick Studio, so yep, this layout was inspired by a Becky Fleck sketch. You can see all the sketches on her website.

I chose to use a combo on confetti acetate with a music sheet since we were all singing Happy Birthday! I punched some of the confetti from the scraps and placed them over the music paper to tie everything together.

The sketch actually called for 3 photos - the one in the center and then 2 at the top. I chose to use two cards in their place. I sued two different cut files from Just Nick. I used the Birthday Sentiments cut file and the heart from the exclusive files Nicole created for the Clique Kits team up in February. You can use the Broken Heart cut file to achieve the same effect.

Want to get a free cut file of your choice? Visit the Just Nick Store and use the code PAGEMAPSFREE to get ANY one design from the store until April 30, 2016!

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This is my personal blog, where I share personal life events & crafts created by me, Heather Leopard. Below is a list of manufacturers/companies (in alphabetical order) I am currently working for, either as a designer and/or in a marketing capacity: Pebbles, Inc. (designer), Elle's Studio (designer), Scrapbook Circle (teacher) plus guest designer & publishing opportunities as described on my resume page.

While I am compensated by these companies, either monetarily or in product, I always say what I truly think of their products. The views and opinions expressed here on my blog are solely my own. I will not recommend something that I don't personally use and enjoy. The projects found here on my blog, The Spotted Leopard, have been created using products I have purchased and/or products I have gotten for free. I am not required to disclose, on my blog, if the projects shown were created using products I received for free or if they were my personal purchases. If you have any questions, please contact me at heather @ heatherleopard . com

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